Sometimes I whisper it over to myself: Murderess. Murderess. It rustles, like a taffeta skirt along the floor. In 1843, a 16-year-old Canadian housemaid named Grace Marks was tried for the murder of her employer and his mistress. The sensationalistic trial made headlines throughout the world, and the jury delivered a guilty verdict. Yet opinion remained fiercely divided about Marks - was she a spurned woman who had taken out her rage on two innocent victims, or was she an unwilling victim herself, caught up in a crime she ...
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Sometimes I whisper it over to myself: Murderess. Murderess. It rustles, like a taffeta skirt along the floor. In 1843, a 16-year-old Canadian housemaid named Grace Marks was tried for the murder of her employer and his mistress. The sensationalistic trial made headlines throughout the world, and the jury delivered a guilty verdict. Yet opinion remained fiercely divided about Marks - was she a spurned woman who had taken out her rage on two innocent victims, or was she an unwilling victim herself, caught up in a crime she was too young to understand? Some believe Grace is innocent; others think her evil or insane. In Alias Grace, Margaret Atwood reconstructs Marks's story in fictional form. Her portraits of nineteenth-century prison and asylum life are chilling in their detail. The author also introduces Dr. Simon Jordan, who listens to the prisoner's tale with a mixture of sympathy and disbelief. In his effort to uncover the truth, Jordan uses the tools of the then rudimentary science of psychology. Dr. Simon Jordan is an up-and-coming expert in the burgeoning field of mental illness, is engaged by a group of reformers and spiritualists who seek a pardon for Grace. He listens to her story while bringing her closer and closer to the day she cannot remember. What will he find in attempting to unlock her memories? Is Grace a female fiend? A bloodthirsty femme fatale? Or is she the victim of circumstances? But the last word belongs to the book's narrator - Grace herself.
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Add this copy of Alias Grace: Margaret Atwood to cart. $0.99, fair condition, Sold by Stephen White Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Bradford, WEST YORKSHIRE, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2017 by Virago.
Add this copy of Alias Grace to cart. $3.34, good condition, Sold by Booksalvation rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Manchester, LANCASHIRE, UNITED KINGDOM, published 1997 by Virago Press.
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Good in good dust jacket. Outline: -Sometimes I whisper it over to myself: Murderess Murderess It rustles like a taffeta skirt along the floor` Grace Marks Female fiend? Femme fatale? Or weak and unwilling victim? Around the true story of one of the most enigmatic and notorious women of the 1840s Margaret Atwood has created an extraordinarily potent tale of sexuality cruelty and mystery-> the publisher of this PAPERBACK book is Virago Press The date of this copy is 1997 booksalvation have grade it as Good and it will be shipped from our UK warehouse This book is from the Series. Shipping is Free for UK buyers and at a reasonable charge for buyer outside the UK.
Add this copy of Alias Grace to cart. $9.45, fair condition, Sold by Anybook rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Lincoln, UNITED KINGDOM, published 1997 by Virago.
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This is an ex-library book and may have the usual library/used-book markings inside. This book has soft covers. In fair condition, suitable as a study copy. Please note the Image in this listing is a stock photo and may not match the covers of the actual item, 500grams, ISBN: 1860492592.
Add this copy of Alias Grace to cart. $9.91, new condition, Sold by Ria Christie Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Uxbridge, MIDDLESEX, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2019 by Virago Press Ltd.
Add this copy of Alias Grace to cart. $9.93, new condition, Sold by Ria Christie Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Uxbridge, MIDDLESEX, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2019 by Virago Press Ltd.
Add this copy of Alias Grace to cart. $12.67, new condition, Sold by Books2anywhere rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Fairford, GLOUCESTERSHIRE, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2019 by Little, Brown Book Group.
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PLEASE NOTE, WE DO NOT SHIP TO DENMARK. New Book. Shipped from UK in 4 to 14 days. Established seller since 2000. Please note we cannot offer an expedited shipping service from the UK.
Add this copy of Alias Grace to cart. $15.43, good condition, Sold by Anybook rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Lincoln, UNITED KINGDOM, published 1996 by Bloomsbury.
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This is an ex-library book and may have the usual library/used-book markings inside. This book has hardback covers. Clean from markings In good all round condition. Dust jacket in good condition. Please note the Image in this listing is a stock photo and may not match the covers of the actual item, 1000grams, ISBN: 9780747527879.
Add this copy of Alias Grace to cart. $16.75, new condition, Sold by Books2anywhere rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Fairford, GLOUCESTERSHIRE, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2017 by Bolinda Publishing.
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PLEASE NOTE, WE DO NOT SHIP TO DENMARK. New Book. Shipped from UK in 4 to 14 days. Established seller since 2000. Please note we cannot offer an expedited shipping service from the UK.
Add this copy of Alias Grace to cart. $0.99, very good condition, Sold by Reuseabook rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Gloucester, GLOS, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2001 by Virago.
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Dispatched, from the UK, within 48 hours of ordering. Though second-hand, the book is still in very good shape. Minimal signs of usage may include very minor creasing on the cover or on the spine.
Add this copy of Alias Grace to cart. $0.99, fair condition, Sold by Reuseabook rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Gloucester, GLOS, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2001 by Virago.
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Fair. Dispatched, from the UK, within 48 hours of ordering. The book is perfectly readable and fit for use, although it shows signs of previous ownership. The spine is likely creased and the cover scuffed or slightly torn. Textbooks will typically have an amount of underlining and/or highlighting, as well as notes. If this book is over 5 years old, then please expect the pages to be yellowing or to have age spots. Aged book. Tanned pages and age spots, however, this will not interfere with reading. Damaged cover. The cover of is slightly damaged for instance a torn or bent corner.
?Alias Grace is a work of fiction, although it is based on reality. Its central figure, Grace Marks, was one of the most notorious Canadian women of the 1840s, having been convicted of murder at the age of sixteen.?
Author?s Afterword.
Grace is one of nine children born into poverty in the north of Ireland. Her father was a violent hard drinking Englishman who attempted to look for work but never found any at the bottom of a beer glass.
In 1840 the family sail to Canada to hopefully begin a new life courtesy of Grace?s uncle who happily pays to remove the family out of his home. Canada in the 1840s had a population of only some two million but this was growing due mostly to emigration especially from Ireland. The family arrive in Toronto and manage to find rooms. Grace?s father makes little or no attempt to find work and eventually Grace leaves to work as a servant for a wealthy family.
She finds a good friend in Mary Whitney, a servant girl in the same household and later when Grace is fleeing the scene of the murders she uses her friend?s name as an alias.
Grace drifts from job to job and eventually finds work some miles outside of the city of Toronto for a gentleman by the name of Thomas Kinnear the man she will later be accused of having murdered.
The story starts with Grace relating her story from prison. Most of her story is being told to a young doctor, Simon Jordan, who is looking to unlock Grace?s memory as she cannot recall any details of the killing of Thomas Kinnear and his housekeeper, Nancy Montgomery.
The novel can be read as a straight-forward narrative about the tale of a poor Irish family who emigrate to Canada where life does not get any easier and circumstances result in Grace Marks being accused of two murders: a tale of sex, murder and mystery. Reading it at that level the novel is a likeable, well crafted story that will not disappoint.
However, this is a novel by Margaret Atwood writer of such books as ?The Handmaids Tale and ?The Blind Assassin? and so Alias Grace has depth and intelligence seeping out of every page. The story is as well crafted as a piece of scrimshaw and the words seem carved on Grace?s very bones. Atwood?s novel is at once delicate and brutal, fatalistic and optimistic and elicits a feeling of having read the mind of a genius.
The novel?s tapestry is woven with the skill of Clotho and while reading one wonders which thread Atropos in the guise of Margaret Atwood will cut next. The story is believable, honest and with elements of social commentary that make one weep when realising that not enough has changed in the past 150 years where women and children are still too often determined as no more than chattels as they were in the nineteenth century.
Though the novel has a dystopian feel, within its pages there is a semblance of hope. As Margaret Atwood herself said, ?In every dystopia there is a utopia.?
Originally posted at http://womensprizeforfictionbookreview.wordpress.com/
Ellyb
Apr 4, 2010
Inside the mind of a maybe murderess
Margaret Atwood's novel "Alias Grace" is both a spell-binding psychological page-turner, and a probing social commentary on the relationship between men and women, scientists and their subjects of study, men and women, and haves and have-nots. Many different people with many different agendas try to fit "notorious murderess" Grace Marks into a neat box, and find themselves stymied.
Despite the slow, almost languid pace of the narrative, I found myself taken in by Grace's narration of day-to-day life as a maid, then as a prisoner. Due to the basis for this novel being historical events, I knew that story would not have some sort of big reveal as to whether Grace was guilty or not, but that didn't stop me from turning the conundrum over and over in my mind. "Alias Grace" is a novel that stimulates thought, whether it be about how certain views of women have changed (or stayed the same), or about the nature of memory and insanity. This was one of Atwood's more captivating works, and I may return to it again someday.
donna
Jul 17, 2007
HAUNTING STORY BASED ON A REAL LIFE MURDER CASE. DID SHE OR DIDN'T SHE-THAT IS THE QUESTION POSED BY THIS MASTER WORK BY A GREAT AUTHOR. THIS IS ALSO THE QUESTION THAT WILL KEEP YOU TURNING PAGES FAR INTO THE NIGHT.
Trilless
May 17, 2007
Excellent Historical Fiction
Based primarily on a true 1800's double murder this novel is a close look at the murderess, Grace. Sometimes told by Grace and sometimes told by a psychologist trying to determine the truth of the case, it leads to a grand overall story.
The question of Did she do it or was she duped makes for a page turner. It is a rather frank book about life for a young woman in a time where showing ankles was provocative, and there were few options for the "weaker" sex.
